Town History

The High Street contains the longest continuous run of 14th-century timber-framed buildings in England.

A walk along the historic High Street will take you back through 800 years of Sussex heritage, it boasts many historic half timbered buildings and open hall houses in the UK. Some buildings date from the 15th and 16th centuries and there are splendid examples from Georgian and Regency times too.

Other notable buildings in the town include Sackville College, the sandstone almshouse built in 1609 where the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas" was written.

On the outskirts of the town is Standen, a country house containing one of the best collections of Arts and Crafts movement furnishings and fabrics.

Local attractions include Ashdown Forest (where the Winnie the Pooh stories are set) and the Bluebell Railway, a preserved heritage line with steam locomotives.

The town is also the site of Queen Victoria Hospital, where famed plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe treated burn victims of World War II and formed the Guinea Pig Club.

'The above photograph depicts the "aeroplane" without engines, made by members of the 1st East Grinstead Troop of Boy Scouts'

See also:

Bombing of Whitehall Cinema